He is the adopted son of Jalal, he married his mother, Salima (Bairam Khan's widow) also Jalal's first cousin to protect her from Maham..
Rahim was son of Bairam Khan, Akbar's trusted caretaker, who had Turkic ancestry. When Humayun returned to India, from his exile, he asked the nobles to forge matrimonial alliances with various zamindars and feudal lords, across the nation. While Humayun himself married the elder daughter of Jamal Khan of Mewat (present Mewat district of Haryana), he asked Bairam Khan to marry the younger daughter.
Khanzadahs,[3] the royal family of Muslim Jadon (also spelt as Jadaun) Rajputs, accepted Islam on their association with the Sufi saints.[4] Khanzadah, the Persian form of the Rajputana word 'Rajput', is the title of the great representatives of the ancient Jadubansi royal Rajput family, descendants of Krishna and therefore of Lunar Dynasty. They are the Mewatti Chiefs of the Persian historians, who were the representatives of the ancient Lords of Mewat.[5]
Khanzadah, or "the son of a Khan" is precisely the Musalman equivalent to the Hindu Rajput or "son of a Raja " ...
—From Punjab Castes by Denzil Ibbetson[6]
Abdul Rahim was born in Lahore (now in Pakistan) on 14th afar 964 [7]
After Bairam Khan was murdered in Patan, Gujarat, his wife and young Rahim were brought safely to Ahmedabad, from they brought to Delhi and presented to the royal courts of Akbar, who gave him the title of 'Mirza Khan', and subsequently married him to Mah Banu, sister of Mirza Aziz Kokah, son of Ataga Khan, a noted Mughal noble.[7]
Later, Bairam Khan's wife became the second wife of Akbar, which made Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khan his stepson, and later he became one of his nine prominent ministers, the Navaratnas, or nine gems.
Although a Muslim by birth, Rahim was a devotee of Lord Krishna and wrote poetry dedicated to him. He was also an avid Astrolger, and the writer of two important works in Astrology Khet Kautukam and Dwawishd Yogavali are still popular.[8]
He is well known for his strange manner of giving alms to the poor. He never looked at the person he was giving alms to, keeping his gaze downwards in all humility. When Tulsidas heard about Rahim's strange method of giving alms, he promptly wrote a couplet and sent it to Rahim:-
"??? ???? ???? ?????, ??? ???? ?? ???
????? ????? ?? ?????? ???, ????? ????? ???? ???"
"Sir, Why give alms like this? Where'd you learn that?, Your hands are as high as your eyes are low"
Realizing that Tulsidas was well aware of the truth behind creation, and was merely giving him an opportunity to say a few lines in reply, he wrote to Tulsidas in all humility:-
"?????? ??? ?? ??, ???? ?? ??? ???
??? ??? ?? ?? ???, ???? ???? ???"
"The Giver is someone else, giving day and night. But the world gives me the credit, so I lower my eyes."
His two sons were killed by Akbar's son Jehangir and their bodies left to rot at the Khooni Darwaza because Rahim was not in favor of Jehangir's accession to the throne at Akbar's death.
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